25 September 2012

Snowballs in Prague: How ACS Research Leads to Real-World Change

By Hana Ross, Managing
Director, International Tobacco Control Research, American Cancer Society Intramural
Research department. Edited by John M. Daniel.

Prague, Czech Republic — As a member of the American
Cancer Society’s Intramural Research department, I know the scientific progress
we make here has applications in the “real world.” But recently I saw firsthand
how something we do routinely – publish research results in a scientific
journal – can become something bigger that will immediately make a difference
in the fight against cancer.

In June, along with
researchers from the University of Bath and the University of Edinburgh, we
published an article in PLoSMedicine.
This article, a case study of tobacco industry interference with tobacco tax and
advertising policy, revealed the close links between the major tobacco companies
and policymakers in the Czech Republic, showing how Big Tobacco influenced
policy there.

This discovery caught
the attention of the Czech tobacco control advocates, who organized a press
conference at the Czech Senate, chaired by its President Milan Stech and
sponsored by the Deputy Director of the Health and Social Committee of the
Czech Senate Jan Zaloudik, M.D., who is also a well-respected oncologist. Apart
from myself, the other invited speakers were Professor Robert West, PhD, from
University College in London, Eva Kralikova, M.D. from Charles University in
Prague, and Katherine Smith, PhD, from the University of Edinburgh.

About 30 journalists
attended the press conference, and the Czech Press Agency distributed the story
to the country’s principal newspapers. I sat for an interview that was
broadcasted on primetime TV news, and a print interview that included my
thoughts was featured the following day as the “interview of the week” in the
most-respected Czech economic newspaper. In addition, Dr. Smith and I provided
an interview to the popular magazine Respect
– the Czech equivalent of Time magazine.
A TV film crew also shot a documentary with all press conference participants about
the influence of the tobacco industry in the country. The film will be aired
this October.

In apparent damage
control for the press conference, the spokesperson for Philip Morris Czech
Republic arranged for an interview in the daily Lidove Noviny (people’s newspaper) that was published three days
before the event. The article portrays the tobacco business as vital for the
Czech economy exaggerating its contributions to the state budget while
disregarding the enormous economic costs caused by tobacco use. It also claims
that only criminals benefit from any attempt to control tobacco use in the
country, because too many regulations drive the tobacco business
underground and the state loses its tax income. This last point was supported
by a conveniently timed police raid conducted the same day as the press
conference that discovered five tons of smuggled tobacco and more than 200,000
smuggled cigarettes near Prague. Senator Zaloudik will enquire about the raid
and whether it was reported to the European Commission, the administrative body
of the European Union. If the recovered smuggled goods are genuine products,
the tobacco companies could face substantial penalties according to their
contract with the commission.

This media reaction to
this news was unprecedented. As a Czech native who works in tobacco control
research, I have held press conferences in the Czech Republic before, but never
has there been so much interest as this time. Even the questions journalists
asked were different – better informed and to the point.

Tobacco control is
clearly gaining ground in the Czech Republic. The country has finally ratified
the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),
and was the last country in Europe to do so. The PLoSMedicine article and the press coverage that accompanied it are
breakthroughs that should further galvanize the tobacco control movement in the
Czech Republic as it faces tough opposition in its attempt to establish smoke-free
restaurants and cafes – interventions that studies show reduce smoking
prevalence and, by extension, the incidence of lung cancer.

The country’s
ratification of the FCTC is such an important event because the Czech Republic is
very influential, both economically and culturally, in Central and Eastern
Europe. For this reason, Philip Morris International chose the country in the
1990s for its first significant investment in the former socialist bloc. Today,
the country is poised to be the first major battleground in the region between
Big Tobacco and cancer control advocates – a battle which may well determine
whether tobacco use (and lung cancer) throughout Eastern Europe can be brought
under control via taxation and policy, as has been done successfully in Western
Europe.

Not all of the American
Cancer Society’s research publications result in press conferences, primetime
TV coverage, and police raids. Most of them impact the cancer fight much more
quietly, as fellow researchers and cancer control advocates worldwide build on
them or apply them in practice. Still, it’s gratifying to know something we do
can snowball in such a way, and help to save lives from cancer around the
globe.